Sunscreen Mixed with Snow Contaminating Areas Near North Pole, Study Shows

The North Pole is not known for beaches and warm vacations. So how did bits of sunscreen wind up close to there?

Knewz.com has learned that scientists believe they’ve found the answer to that question, after taking samples from five glaciers north of the Arctic Circle.

To make things even more puzzling, researchers determined most of the chemicals associated with sunscreen and fragrances were left there during the Arctic winter. That’s when the North Pole has no sunlight at all for weeks.

The study focused on the Svalbard area of far northern Norway. By: Jess McMahon/Unsplash

The researchers found 13 different ingredients in the Svalbard region, on an island northwest of northern Norway and east of Greenland. Both settled communities and remote locations 24 miles away were examined.

The researchers do not think someone simply spilled a bottle of suntan lotion on the snow.

“The results show that the presence of emerging contaminants in remote areas can be attributed to the role of long-range atmospheric transport,” researcher Marco Vecchiato from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Italy told Phys.org.

In other words, a mass of air from lower latitudes of Europe and Asia drifted over the Arctic and dropped the chemicals there.

Reindeer live north of the Arctic Circle in the Svalbard area of Norway. But contaminating chemicals are found there as well. By: MEGA

“The most noticeable example concerns certain UV filters normally used as ingredients in sun creams,” Vecchiato explained.

Two of the sunscreen chemicals appeared more on the tops of glaciers, his team’s study found.

But there’s an environmental concern behind the research. The chemicals are getting into seawater and affecting organisms near the North Pole, with changes in their hormonal systems and endocrine.

Andrea Spolaor with the Institute of Polar Sciences-National Research Council of Italy noted conditions near the poles “are rapidly changing in response to climate change, which occurs four times faster in the Arctic than in the rest of the world.”

Results of the Arctic research are being published Monday, January 15 in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

“This region is no longer as pristine as it was considered at the beginning of the past century,” the study’s introduction says.

Some of the fragrances tested by the researchers “are stable enough to be utilized in aggressive commercial products, such as bleach or acid cleaners, and their scent can persist on blotters for weeks to months,” it adds.

The Cool Down website noted one sunscreen ingredient already is linked to environmental damage in tropical areas. Oxybenzone in water can speed up damage to coral reefs.

Ingredients in some sunscreens can cause environmental damage. By: Onela Ymeri/Unsplash

That’s why sunscreens with that ingredient have been banned in Hawaii for three years. The European Union has imposed its own restrictions as well.

For people dealing with fierce winter storms right now, this could raise a question. Should sunscreen be avoided in snowy months?

Many medical experts say no.

Ice and snow is common in winter on Lake Superior. By: MEGA

“Snow can reflect almost 90% of UV radiation, so UV rays are much more likely to burn areas such as your chin and nose,” the Northern Ireland health-centered site “Care in the Sun” advises.

The site recommends applying “SPF 30 or higher and four-star rating or more, 30 minutes before you go out into the sun.” Then carry a small tube of sunscreen while you’re out.